Hugo Chávez doesn't like Barack Obama's nomination for US Ambassador to Venezuela, Larry Palmer, who suggested that Chávez's administration is basically a drug cartel, so Palmer was rejected. But Chávez has a few suggestions — famous people who like him!

Chávez doesn't take criticism well, or at all, really, so when Palmer was nominated by Obama, he didn't stand a chance. Palmer in the recent past has said that Chávez has close ties to Colombian drug-trafficking rebels, and that morale in his military is low. And, after Chávez rejected Palmer, the US revoked the visa of Venezuela's ambassador. Looking to defuse the situation, in a speech yesterday the Venezuelan leader threw a few names out of people who could represent the United States in Caracas: